Ron Rivera: Woke up this morning and realized a change was needed

Panthers coach Ron Rivera initially said he didn’t want to make any staff changes. And then he woke up this morning and made changes.

After firing offensive coordinator Mike Shula and quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey earlier today, Rivera said the Panthers needed to move in a different direction.

“I know yesterday I did say I wouldn’t make any changes, but I did say there would be an evaluation,” Rivera said.

Rivera said he woke up at 3:15 a.m. and realized he needed to make a move, but denied that he ever considered making the change earlier.

Rivera told reporters “I have a plan,” when asked about a replacement, one he’d go over with interim General Manager Marty Hurney.

That leaves the door open to speculation, and Norv Turner’s name is the most logical replacement. Rivera was interested in bringing Turner aboard previously, namely in 2013 before settling on promoting Shula from quarterbacks coach.

But Turner went to Cleveland with Rob Chudzinski instead, and being Cleveland, that didn’t work out.

Turner has been out of football since leaving the Vikings in midseason two years ago, but has background with Rivera from San Diego, and would represent some familiarity at a time when they’re expecting to lose defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.

If ever there was a time to give some up-and-commer a chance, give a guy a break it would be now ESPECIALLY when floating Norv Turner’s name around. You have got to be kidding me with bringing him back.

Wow, Carolina parts ways with a so so OC, and Cam is a coach killer
There is inherent bias in the media and most fans
You know who are coach killers – Matt Stafford 3 times, Andrew Luck 1 time, Andrew Dalton, Blake Bortles, Jameis Winston, Eli Manning 2 times, 3 if you count OC changes

>phinland says:
>January 9, 2018 at 3:47 pm
>Carolina will never win anything as long as Cam Newton is their QB
Forgot Ryan Tannelill, coach killa, OC killa (Mike Sherman, Joe Philbin & now soon to be Adam Gase), with him you are not sniffing a super bowl appearance or divisional playoff in the near future

Carolina can win a Super Bowl with Cam Newton. I say this while not really liking Newton. But he is not their problem. he is one of their biggest assets. Carolina needs to draft and sign blazing speed on the outside. And go vertical with Newton because of his ability to disrupt/run. He still has Olsen and McCaffrey patrolling underneath. And young McCaffrey needs to be featured as the primary catalyst in that offense to take pressure off of Cam. They likely need to snag a Dion Lewis/Sproles/Vereen/White type in space back/slot guy to match up with McCaffrey. And they need an OC who can put that kind of offense into play, and they’re good to go

Turner actually quit on the Vikings last year not two seasons ago and he did it mid-season. Details were very vague and it could be that Zimmer told him to leave but none the less it was mid-season of last year and Shurmur took over and has done an incredible job in his place.

Dude says Cam is a coach killer smh do you guys even do research on what you don’t know before posting? Cam has had the same coach his whole career and only 2 OC’s, and the first one he played so well he got him a head coaching job

I don’t think there’s ever been a name thrown out that fans have said “Oh joy! Yes, let’s get that guy, please!” You’ll always get complainers, fans of other teams the guy has coached, and Patriots fans talking about how their guy will never be as good as Belichick.

All that said, Mike Shula had to go. Don’t know about the QB coach. I do know that Marty Hurney decided to trade his team’s top target in the middle of a playoff run for mid level and low level picks, thereby robbing his quarterback (who does have confidence issues) of his favorite target (with whom he had a rapport), who was also still on his rookie deal for another year. This isn’t a team with crazy depth at WR to begin with, either.